Emma Judd: Dyke’s on-air gaffe shows a complete lack of respect

EMMA JUDD

RICK JACKSON: Girl power rules – at the age of two

Only attractive new mothers should feed their babies in public, according to disgraced radio presenter Alex Dyke.

The ‘fat chavvy mums’ he says, should hide themselves away in private.

Presumably he kept their mother in a cupboard until they were old enough to eat with cutlery

He’s been suspended for a debate on his BBC Radio Solent show in which he labelled breastfeeding as ‘unnatural’ after being forced to watch a ‘big girl’ breastfeed her baby on the bus.

I’m not sure why he couldn’t look elsewhere. Out the window, for example, like the rest of us do. Or at his phone. Anywhere, in fact.

But he said that as the bus was packed he had no option but to stare at the mammaries of this poor mum (that’s what female breasts are really called, Alex, because they actually have a specific and very natural function, unlike yours).

His comments resulted in a petition being drawn up for his dismissal from the popular radio station, with 8,000 signatures and counting.

By Thursday, the day after his broadcast, Ofcom had received 14 complaints from outraged listeners.

I don’t know if Dyke, who has a reputation for trying to be a shock jock, was just trying to provoke an argument, or if he really has these views.

But for the millions of women who choose to breastfeed, hearing that they’re unnatural for doing it in public unless immaculately coiffed — regardless of the fact they won’t have slept properly for months — is yet another pressure for them.

He seems ignorant of the fact a newborn can ask to be fed between eight and 12 times a day. That, maths fans, means that almost every two hours, around the clock, baby needs a nipple, so asking people not to do it in public pretty much means they’re under house arrest.

I don’t have children and even I know that. Alex Dyke does have children. Presumably he kept their mother in a cupboard until they were old enough to eat with cutlery.

He says breast feeding belongs in the Stone Age. I’d argue his views belong in the Stone Age and it should in fact be people as ignorant as he who are kept out of the public’s view… or hearing.